A Collection of enemies
by jenny sherman
Summary: The team are betrayed to an old enemy off world, and Elizabeth is captured. The Genii, the Wraith and a madman all stand between Sheppard rescuing her.


A COLLECTION OF ENEMIES

Timeline and spoilers : - Takes place after the long goodbye but before coup de tate

Summary: The team are betrayed to an old enemy off world, and Elizabeth is captured. The Genii, the Wraith and a madman all stand between Sheppard rescuing her.

CHAPTER 1 

The gentle warm breeze blew over Elizabeth's face as she leant over the rail on her balcony. John and his team had returned from a routine mission and were having their regular check up with Dr Beckett. So she realised that she had at least 15 minutes before they were due to debrief her, so she used this rare spare time to sneak out here and relax.

She heard the doors open behind her, she didn't need to turn around to find out who it was as only one other person came onto her balcony, she felt his presence beside her.

"Everything okay" he asked as he noticed her quiet mood.

"Yes, I was just enjoying the view" he could have said the same thing as he looked over her beautiful features, her brown hair was blowing gently in the wind causing a few stray curls to brush her eyes, he raised his hand to tuck them out of the way but thought against it at the last moment.

The past week had been a bit strained between them, the events that had take place whilst their bodies had been taken over had, had different effects for each of them. The one thing that they had both immediately been stuck by was the effect on them from their kiss. John had, had growing feelings for Elizabeth now for a while but when they had kissed he realised that it was more than just flirting, he realised that he was in love with this woman, the kiss was so passionate and sensual. He had never had a woman make him feel that way before, he knew that she was the only one for him. He knew that since that day that things between them had changed forever, he just wondered if she had, had the same feelings too. The past week she had almost been avoiding him, he wasn't sure if it was because she was regretful, embarrassed or just didn't know what to say.

"Ready to debrief"? He asked, she turned to look at him and smiled a genuine warm smile at him, which made his heart skip a beat.

"Yes John, lets go" he held out his hand indicating ladies first. He followed her out from their balcony and they made their way to the debriefing room where McKay, Teyla and Ronan where already waiting and talking together.

Elizabeth sat down and opened her laptop ready to type out any important notes. The team went quiet and waited for her to speak. John took his usual seat beside her and looked at Elizabeth, she nodded her head signalling him to start.

The briefing went on for a while and all the time she was getting the sense that he was leaving something out, she noticed that Rodney was slightly nervous. John went quiet making out that had finished when Teyla coughed.

"Isn't there something else Colonel"? She said raising her eyebrows and John looked uncomfortable, which left Elizabeth wondering what he had done now.

"Okay spill it," she said giving him one of her looks.

"Alright, they said that they wouldn't trade unless our leader came which I told them was not possible"

"Why not" Elizabeth asked interrupting him.

"You know how I, how we feel about you going off world, your the leader of our expedition and it is too dangerous for you to go" he said hoping that she didn't notice his slip of the tongue. Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at him; she did catch what he had said and a small flutter leapt into her stomach. Since they had kissed everything had changed, she had felt such heat between them, no man, not even Simon had made her feel that way. She knew that she had been falling for him for a while and all that the kiss had done had made her want him more. But he didn't seem to be bothered by their kiss and it hurt. She wished that she knew how he felt about her, so she had tried to keep her distance from him until she could figure out how to keep her feelings in check for him. Now looking at his protective face she had a small hint of hope building up inside her.

"Teyla, do you think these people are a threat?" Elizabeth asked looking at the strong woman beside her, Elizabeth knew that she could trust her instincts.

"Elizabeth, I have already," John said but she put up her hand to stop him.

"Teyla knows them Colonel, I just wanted to have her opinion" Teyla bowed her head in thanks.

"My father dealt with them for many years, we have never had any reason to mistrust them, I believe that you will be safe and welcome there" McKay snorted.

"You cant be serious, its too dangerous" he said in his usual fast tone. "What if the Wraith attacks"? Ronan and John both nodded their heads in agreement.

"Then I will just have to hope that the four of you can protect me" She was touched by all of their concern.

"Discussion over, we will leave in 3 hours, Teyla and Ronan, would you please return and thank them for their invitation, inform them that I will be attending the negotiations"

"Fine, if your going then I am going to take 3 teams with me including Lorne's for protection" Elizabeth rolled her eyes at him.

"Fine" When she closed her laptop they all realised that, that was the meeting over sign. They all stood up and walked out of the room.

Teyla and Ronan had just left the Varion world and the Lord Chancellor had a decision to make. He knew that the Genii had spies everywhere and if they found out that a team and even the leader of Atlantis had been to their planet and he had not informed them of that then their planet and people would suffer greatly. He looked out of his window at the planet below and knew that he could not let that happen. He sighed heavily and called for his Sergeant.

"Sergeant Baylis would you please come to my office" he waited for a while until the man arrived.

"Sergeant Baylis would you please go to the Genii home world and speak to Commander Kolya, inform him that the leader and a team from Atlantis will be returning here in 3 hours" Baylis looked at him.

"But sir, wont they be in danger from the Genii, I heard Sheppard talk about them last time they were here, I assured them of their safety"

"I know Sergeant, and I truly am regrettable about it but I have to think about our people, the Genii are ruthless and I would not like to cross them, they have spies everywhere"

"Yes sir" Baylis said, he knew that they were doing the wrong thing but he had to follow his orders. He headed out of the office noticing how sad the Lord Chancellor looked. He bowed and headed to the gate.

Once he dialled the address, he heaved a heavy sigh and stepped through the gate. He headed to the underground city and was approached by three guards.

"What can we do for you sir"?

"I am Sergeant Baylis of the Varian's I have been ordered to speak to your Commander Kolya on a matter of some urgency" They looked at each other and held up their hands.

"Please wait here a moment sir" one of the guards turned away and spoke into a radio. After a few minutes he turned around.

"Please follow me sir" they escorted him to commander Kolya.

After a 10-minute walk Kolya greeted him.

"So what do the Varian's have to offer me?" Kolya said reading a report as Baylis stood in front of him.

"I have been told that you would be interested to know who is coming to trade on our world in 2 hours"

"Really" he said looking uninterested.

"The visitors are from Atlantis" that got his attention.

"Atlantis, are you sure, what are their names" he said as he gave the report to one of his men.

"Colonel Sheppard, Teyla, Ronan, Dr McKay, a few soldiers and Elizabeth Weir are all coming" Kolya interrupted him.

"Wait did you say Weir is coming to your planet in 2 hours are you sure" When Baylis nodded Kolya smiled and clapped his hand together.

"This is perfect, tell the Chancellor that the Genii are now in his debt" and with that Kolya disappeared talking to his men, forming a plan.

CHAPTER 2 

Just before they were due to leave, John had insisted that Elizabeth wear a body vest and strap on a gun, which of course she declined to do. Ronan had given her a small knife, which she could conceal up her sleeve; she finally consented to that after the pair of them kept harassing her.

"Now Elizabeth, when we are off world I am in charge of security which means that you do as I say" John said with a smirk.

"Yes sir" she said with a mock salute. The gate activated in front of them and Sheppard ordered the first team through to secure the gate.

After a few minutes the radio signal came back that they were all clear to come through.

"Okay, lets go" he said. Elizabeth looked up to Sergeant Bates in the control room and nodded at him. She had left him and Zelenka in charge whilst she was gone. When she reached the gate she hesitated for a few moments, she would never tell anyone but she hated gate travel it always made her feel so sick.

She felt John's hand on the small of her back and looked at him.

"You ready" he smiled at her and gently urged her forward. He couldn't help the bad feeling that was beginning to form in his stomach.

They all emerged on the other side of the gate and Elizabeth was immediately reminded of Canada, the planet was beautiful, she could see snow topped mountains in the distance and a large lake surrounded by beautiful large trees. The deep blue sky was filled with two small suns, and a large moon. The Stargate was situated on the top of a hill, which is how she could see everything, including a large city below them. John noticed her looking at the scenery.

"Lovely isn't it, remind you much of home"

"Oh yes, what a lovely planet" After a few minutes wait they could see the Lord Chancellor walking up the hill to greet them.

"Welcome, Welcome Dr Weir" he said in a very pleasant tone.

"Please, if we are going to be allies and trade partners then I think that at least you can call me Elizabeth, may I just say that you have a beautiful home" She stretched out her hand and he shuck it happily.

Tribus felt straight away that this woman was a kind and decent person and he was seriously regretting his actions.

"You may call me Tribus, please follow me to our city, where we can negotiate a trade then have the fine dinner that I have had prepared for us" at the mention of food McKay smiled happily.

"Your very kind" she said and walked beside him down the hill. Sheppard stayed close by, he ordered a team of four to stay by the gate and keep an eye out.

The negotiations had been very successful and easy to agree on. Elizabeth had an uneasy feeling that they had almost been too easy. They had finished very quickly and were now enjoying their delicious dinner.

"After dinner we shall retire out into the garden of fragrance to have drinks"

"That sounds lovely, thank you" Tribus was wondering when Kolya and his men were going to show up, he hoped that they weren't and that they were going to leave these people alone.

The team by the Stargate that Sheppard had left behind were standing guard. One of the men heard something in the woods and went to investigate. He was ambushed quietly by one of the Genii; he broke his neck without him having to get off a warning shot. The other three men were all attacked without a shot being fired.

The Genii soldiers had all arrived before the Atlantis team and were waiting out of sight. Kolya decided that now was the time to attack.

The Gardens of Fragrance were indeed lovely. There were various plants and flowers in beautiful displays, there were three fountains of various sizes and many statues darted around. There were lots of small hedges and benches for people to admire the lovely gardens.

They were all spread out talking and drinking with the Varian's. Elizabeth was talking to Tribus; John was close by keeping an eye out. Teyla was talking to some old friends, McKay was talking to a geeky scientist and Ronan was standing by a statue looking at everyone with a weary eye.

John just couldn't shake the bad feeling. He had come to trust his instincts well over the years and at the moment they were yelling at him that something was wrong.

"Bishop report" he said into his radio. When he got no response he moved over to Ronan so that no one could see his worry.

"Bishop this is Sheppard do you read me over" Ronan was listening and knew, like John, that something was wrong.

Suddenly shots rang out and John knew that they were in big trouble. He could see Elizabeth looking around in shock and made his way straight over to her. As he ran to her he saw a couple of his men being hit and killed, Teyla and McKay were fighting hand to hand with some soldiers that had appeared in the garden. Finally he reached her.

"Take this and get down," he shouted at her over the gunfire and thrust a gun into her hand. Ronan was suddenly on the other side of her guarding her back, which made John feel better. Elizabeth saw Tribus and he people running for the building without being attacked.

"I'm so sorry" he shouted at her and she truly believe that he was.

"Genii" John said in a venomous tone. "Crap, stay with me Elizabeth"

John noticed the scared look on her face. John's team set up a line of defence fire a huge firefight began. Soldiers on both sides were being killed. Elizabeth crouched down behind John and covered her ears at all the noise. She spotted a Genii solider making his way around the back to shoot John. She realised that she might have to shoot a person and raised her gun to aim at him. But thankfully John saw him first and hit him squarely in the chest with one shot.

The Genii men just keep coming into the garden and John knew that they were in deep trouble. Elizabeth suddenly felt like she had been punched in the shoulder and fell back on the ground. Then a searing hot pain hit her and she realised that she had been shot. She couldn't help the cry of pain escape her lips, her cry got John's attention and he turned around to see her grabbing her shoulder. The colour drained from his face when he saw the blood seeping through her fingers.

"Oh God no, Elizabeth are you hit" she looks up and him and he can see the tears of pain on her face.

"I'm okay, don't worry about me" but as she said the words she couldn't help but gasp at the pain. Ronan grabbed one of the napkins off the table and pressed it on her wound causing her to cry out, John felt sick when it instantly changes colour from white to red as the blood stains it quickly. Ronan looks at him, being a solider, he knows that she is in a bad way and must be hurting a lot.

As suddenly as it started the gunfire stops. John looks up from Elizabeth and Ronan's face and then looks around the garden, his gaze lands on the face of a man he hates more than anyone in the galaxy. Kolya. He has Teyla and Rodney on their knees with their hands on their heads in front of him. Each has a gun pointed at their heads.

"I'm sorry Colonel" Teyla shouts

"Hold you fire or I will execute them now and plant a nuke on this planet and kill everything on it" Elizabeth hears the voice and knows straight away who it is, the man that gave her nightmares for weeks. Using Ronan for support she sits up so she can just about see him.

"Surrender yourselves" John realised that they are overrun and that for the moment there is no way out of this. He looks at Elizabeth and shakes his head.

"I'm sorry, but we have no choice" he stands up with his hands raised and throws his gun to the ground. Upon seeing this the rest of his men do the same.

Kolya smiles.

"Ahh, Colonel Sheppard, long time no see, and where is the beautiful Dr Weir" Despite the pain and the tiredness she feels she stands up straight and looks at him defiantly. John couldn't have been more proud of her.

She sees Teyla and Rodney in front of him and she can see that they are mad that they too couldn't protect her. She tries to give them a reassuring nod.

"Oh dear it looks like you have a little scratch there, what a pity" holding a tight grip on her blood soaked shoulder she moves forward a few steps.

"Kolya, what do you want now"

"You Elizabeth, all this was for you" John's heart rate triples when he hears those words, he knows that there is nothing he can do to save her now, she turns around to look at him and only he can tell that she is terrified.

Inside the building, hiding in safety the Varian's watched.

"Lord Chancellor we have to do something, these people are decent and honest, we can not let them be killed" Baylis pleaded with Tribus. Tribus watched from the window and said quietly.

"What do you have in mind"?

"Me, fine I will come with you if you let my people go free" Kolya looked like he was thinking it over.

"Deal" he said. He pushed Rodney and Teyla forward; they stood up and walked over to Sheppard. The Genii soldiers moved all of Sheppard's men back in a line.

Elizabeth took a few steps forward and then turned around to look at her friends, they were all looking like they were just waiting for her to say the word and they would fight to the death.

"Don't Elizabeth" John pleaded.

"I have to, it is the only way to save you, to save you all" she walked slowly and shakily over to Kolya, her bullet wound was causing her to sway slightly. She reached Kolya and she felt sick at the way he looked her up and down. He took out his gun and pointed it at her.

"Shall we" he said as he waved the gun for her to move. She turned around to see John being held back by Ronan and Rodney. She smiled reassuringly at him and then was moved away.

"Kill them all, then stay and enjoy the food," Kolya said to his men then grabbed Elizabeth round the neck roughly and dragged her away.

"NO, YOU MADE ME A DEAL, DON'T DO THIS, JOHN"

John thought fast as he watched Kolya drag her away kicking and screaming.

"DON'T DO THIS" John heard Kolya laughing at her as they went out of sight. When they were a few minutes away from the city, Elizabeth jumped at the sound of machine gun fire, then silence.

"You son of a bitch" Elizabeth knew that the sound she had heard was her team, her friends and her beloved John being executed.

The gate was already activated when they arrived. His men were gathered around a large crate. She knew straight away that it was a nuke.

"Why are you doing this to these people" she said between sobs.

"We have to test our weapon and prove that we are a race to be reckoned with" She remembered the knife that Ronan had given her and she quickly pulled it out from her sleeve and without hesitation she stabbed Kolya's arm that was around her neck. He yelled out and let her go, she made a futile attempt to escape but was grabbed by two guards. The pain increased as they held her arms behind her back.

Kolya pulled out the knife and looked at her hate filled eyes.

"Well aren't you just full of surprises" then without warning he punched her hard across the face, knocking her to the floor. Despite his wound he picked her up off the ground and carried her thought the gate in his arms with his men behind him.

CHAPTER 3 

John watched helplessly as Elizabeth was dragged away roughly in front of him screaming and kicking. He felt Ronan's strong arms holding him back. Even when she was out of his field of vision he could still hear her screaming in defiance. His heart was breaking.

Kolya's men lined up and raised the machine guns.

"It has been an honour serving with you John" Ronan said as he stood up straight, ready to die with dignity.

"Well, if I am going to die then I am going to die with a smile on my face" McKay said as he turned around and kissed a surprised Teyla. Satisfied he turned back to the firing squad and closed his eyes.

"Ready, aim"

The sound of machine gun fire sounded and they all gasped. Next was the sound of many bodies falling to the ground?

"Did they miss" McKay said as he opened his eyes and looked around to see Sheppard and all the team standing unharmed.

The Genii soldiers were all lying dead on the floor and behind them was Sergeant Baylis and his men.

"Please forgive us," he said then Tribus appeared and walked towards Sheppard warily, the expression on Sheppard's face was that of a dangerous man.

"I am sorry that I betrayed you, but the Genii are ruthless people I had to tell them of your arrival or my world and people would have suffered, but after meeting you all I realised I could not let this happen. I am at your mercy, arrest me if you will, but only me, this was my decision, my men were just following orders" John walked forward and picked up his machine gun off the floor and looked around at the dead people on the floor.

"I think that you just redeemed yourself"

"Teyla, Ronan take a team and make sure there are no more Genii anywhere else" with that he ran off after Kolya.

When he got to the bottom of the hill he could see the Stargate was already engaged. He could make out Elizabeth form being held by two guards, and then he saw Kolya punch her to the ground. That made his anger double and he ran as fast as he could up the hill but he was too late to stop Kolya pick up her unconscious body and carry her through the gate. Just as he reached the top the gate shut down.

"DAMMIT" he yelled out and ran to the DHD to get the address. He recognised it instantly as the Genii home world. A flashing red light caught his eye and he looked under the DHD to see a device strapped to the bottom of it, he realised quickly that it was a bomb, he jumped away just before it exploded, blowing the DHD to bits. He stood up and looked at his shattered remains, bits of it had lodged themselves into the Stargate and John knew that it wouldn't work now.

He stood up and wiped off the dirt from his trousers. He felt defeated, all he could think of was Elizabeth's terrified face. Then he noticed a large crate behind the Stargate, he walked gingerly over to it and when he looked inside, his eyes went wide.

"Oh crap"

After 5 minutes McKay, Teyla, Ronan, Tribus and Baylis appeared at the gate.

"Where is she, did you see her" Sheppard was sitting with his head in his bowed.

"They took her to the Genii home world"

"We have to go now and get her back, they won't be expecting it and we will have the element of surprise" Ronan said with such determination that McKay actually believed that they could do it.

"Well we have two problems with that plan, the first is they blew up the DHD" everyone turned around to see what remained of the DHD.

"And the second" Teyla asked getting worried about her commander she had never seen him so devastated and unsure of what to do.

"The second is that huge nuclear weapon counting down from 20 minutes," John said pointing to the crate behind the Stargate.

"WHAT" McKay shouted in his high pitch tone? He ran over to it and pulled down the sides of the box, fortunately he had, had experience with these weapons from the Genii and knew how to defuse it.

"It is not your fault Colonel" Teyla said trying to keep his spirits up.

"I need my back pack, Ronan please, your fast can you get it for me"

"I'm on it," he said and off he ran, within 7 minutes he had returned. Rodney started to take the top panel off.

"Rodney can you disable this"

"Yes I can" he said and carried on as fast as he could.

Tribus and Baylis watched in anticipation as the clock ticked down. Rodney pulled out some wires and cut three of them then moved to another section and began to remove that.

"6 minutes Rodney"

"Not helping guys, I am under enough pressure as it is and I really don't need to have constant reminders of the time" Eventually he stopped working and looked at the clock it said 2.27. He sat back on the floor and wiped the sweat from his head.

"Good job Rodney" Teyla said ruffling up his hair.

"We are forever in your debt Dr McKay" said Tribus as she shook Rodney's hand.

"Think nothing of it, all in the days work for a genius" Ronan pulled out one of his favourite chocky bars that Rodney had introduced him to and threw it over to him.

"You earned it buddy" McKay ate it gratefully.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" John said as he stood up and began to yell.

"Your sitting here joking around, eating chocky bars, when god knows what Elizabeth is going through, she has been shot and as she was carried through the gate unconscious because Kolya punched her to the ground before he went through. I have no way of reaching her to help, she's scared and alone and thinks we are all dead, I should be there with her" he went quiet as he looked at their faces.

"I promised her that I would keep her safe," he said as he sank back to the ground.

Rodney moved over to him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"John, she is a strong woman we will find her and I promise you that she will be okay" John shrugged off his hand and looked at him angrily.

"How can you promise that, its no use we cant get to her, we cant get anywhere"

"BULLSHIT, she needs us to be strong for her and figure out a way for us to save her, which we will do, she doesn't need her best friend and 2IC sitting on his ass feeling sorry for himself, now I want you to get you ass off the floor and help us save her"

Ronan raised his eyebrows at Rodney's tough stance. Sheppard looked into Rodney's face.

"When did you become the strong one" The talk was just what Sheppard needed.

He stood up with renewed hope and looked at his ready team.

"Rodney is there anyway that you can rebuild the DHD" Rodney looked at it for a second.

"Not a chance in hell, even if I could, the gate has been damaged and I suspect won't work"

"Chancellor do you have any space vehicles" Tribus shook his head.

"I am afraid that we are not that advanced" John kept thinking.

"wow, wow, wow, wow, space craft of course the deadalous"

"What" Ronan asked?

"The Deadalous is on its way back to earth Rodney it will be no help to us now" Teyla said. Rodney ran to his laptop and sat for a few moments whilst he did a few calculations then looked up at his team.

"From what I can determine, they will be passing this planet in 1 day, we will be able to hail them"

"They will hear a call from our radios" Teyla said in disbelief

"No, but I am sure that in a day I can make some sort of booster system that we can use to amplify the signal so that"

"Is that a yes?" John said cutting his babbling off

"Yes"

"I believe that we may be of some assistance to you,"

"Looks like we have a plan, good work Rodney," said John.

Tribus lead them back to the city where they began to construct a radio device.

CHAPTER 4 

The first of her senses to come to her as she slowly awoke was her sense of smell. She could smell the rotten damp air around her, the very quickly her sense of pain came next and she grabbed at her aching shoulder. She moved her tongue gently over her lip to feel it swollen and cracked where she had been hit; the metallic taste of blood was still in her mouth. She opened her eyes and looked around at her surroundings.

She was on the damp floor of a dimly lit cell. She realised quickly that she must be on the Genii home world. There was no window, the only light in the room was a small lamp stuck on the wall. There was no furniture, no basin and no toilet facilities.

She tried to stand up but she was too weak. She just about managed to sit up; when she did she saw that there was a small pool of blood where her shoulder had been lying. The amount of blood loss was beginning to panic her, she didn't know how much she had lost but she knew it was a lot. Then she remembered about John and everyone else that had been murdered and her anger and sadness grew inside her again. She couldn't help the tears and sobs that racked her body.

She cried for her friends for over 10 minutes and even threw up, until she head the sound of footsteps approaching. Trying to act strong, she wiped away the tears and put on her best defiant expression. The clanking of keys in the lock made her jump. The door swung open and two armed guards walked into the room and stood behind her. Then a very smug looking Kolya appeared in the room, slicing up and apple with the knife that she had stabbed him with yesterday.

"So how are we feeling, co operative I hope for your sake" Elizabeth looked at him and said coldly.

"I will not help you, you murdering son of a bitch" Kolya stopped chewing and knelt down in front of her.

"Yes you will Dr Weir, believe me, there are so many things that I could do to that lovely body of yours, torture techniques you have never dreamed of in your nightmares" Elizabeth still refused to look away from him or show any signs of weakness.

"I don't care what you do, you will never get Atlantis" Kolya looked up at the two guards and gave them a nod. Within a second she felt her arms being restrained, then she saw Kolya taking an unhealthy interest in her wound.

"I bet you could do with that bullet coming out" for a few moments she actually believe that he was going to get her medical attention. She couldn't have been more wrong. He carefully placed the apple on the floor, then jabbed the knife into the wound, he moved it around looking for the bullet. Elizabeth yelled out in pain and tried to struggle free from this incredible pain. Fishing around in her shoulder he finally found the bullet and dug it out. The guards let her go and she fell forward sobbing in pain and grabbing at the now larger bleeding wound.

"You will do what I tell you," he said as he stood up, grabbing his apple on the way, he wiped the blood off the knife and continued to cut up the apple. A few moments after he left she is taken by the darkness and collapses on the floor.

Two hours later she wakes up in shock as a cold bucket of water is thrown over her. She sits up and rests on her knees.

"Now this is what you are going to do, you are going to dial the Atlantis gate and tell them to lower the shield, we will take it from there" Elizabeth shook her head as the water runs down her back.

"I will not help you"

"Suit yourself" he stands up and looks at her, just when she thinks he is about to leave he kicks her hard in the ribs; she falls back on the floor and rolls onto her injured side. Kolya comes forward and kicks her again, she rolls across the floor and slams into the wall, then she feels his fist on her face and stomach. Satisfied that she has learnt her lesson he leaves her for a bit.

"We will continue this conversation later"

Elizabeth cries out loud at the pain her broken ribs cause her. Once again darkness takes her and she falls unconscious on the floor.

Another couple of hours and she is awoken again in the same manor.

"So I ask the same question" Elizabeth looks at him with one swollen eye.

"And I give the same answer" she just about says with a raspy voice. Her breathing is wheezy and her body is shaking.

"Okay" he nods to a guard and once again she is held in place. Then into the room walks a man holding a hot poker. Kolya unzips her jumper so her bare skin is exposed. Then the realization hits her that they are going to burn her with it.

"No, no" she shouts but it is too late. Her screams are heard all the way through the cellblock. After a few minutes Kolya leaves the room with an unconscious Dr Weir on the floor.

"I have to say that her resistance is impressive, she is not a solider, she is just a diplomat, but like I say I am impressed, nevertheless I will break her," Kolya says to one of his men as they walk out of the cellblock.

Rodney had been taken to the Varian's communication room.

"Will this equipment be of good use to you"?

"Well it is crude but I think that I can fashion a good enough communication device from it"

"If anyone can do it you can Rodney, now what do you need from us" John said as he watched Rodney get to work.

"Space" he said in his usual no nonsense tone.

"Okay" John and the others left him too it whilst Tribus lead him back to his men.

"We will get her back John" Teyla said standing beside him. "Kolya must need her alive or she would have been killed on the spot"

"I just wish I would have told her how" he stopped himself from revealing his feelings out loud.

"I am certain that she knows your true feelings and I am also certain that she feels the same way, I have seen the way you two look at each other" she swore she saw him blush slightly.

"Your secret is safe with me," she said quietly.

"You're a good friend Teyla, thank you"

A couple of hours later Rodney came to John looking pleased with him.

"Okay all done, all we have to do now is wait" he paused and looked at his watch "12 hours and 47 minutes" John looked around at his men.

"Your men are welcome to use the guest quarters to rest until you leave" Tribus said

"Thank you" 'hold on Elizabeth I'm coming to get you' he thought to himself.

The next day Elizabeth woke up hungry and in pain. She couldn't move her shoulder at all it was too stiff, and breathing was increasingly difficult thanks to her broken ribs. She felt the sticky dried blood down the side of her face and sighed heavily wondering what Kolya was going to do next. She zipped up her jumper as best she could, trying hard not to touch her scorched skin.

The door opened and two guards came in and dragged her to her feet and out of the cell. Every movement was agony to her. They dragged her all the way to the gate.

"Good morning Dr Weir" Kolya was standing in front of it with a team of men and a large object which she recognised as a nuke.

"I assume you know what this is," he said pointing to the nuke.

"It's a nuclear bomb"

"Well done, now if you don't dial Atlantis and tell them to lower the shield, I will send this nuke to the Kobans" seeing her recognition he smiled.

"Oh yes, I know that you were recently on their planet trading, set the timer for 2 minutes" Elizabeth thought of all the decent people on that planet, the hundred of children they had seen and realised that she had no choice now.

"Even you wouldn't murder thousands of people in cold blood"

"Oh yes I would, and it would all be on your head, dial the address" he said to his men. The guards dialled the Koban planet and planted the bomb in front of the event horizon"

"Okay I'll do it," she said in a small voice.

"That's a good girl," Kolya said smiling.

"Send it through"

"WHAT, I told you I would do it"

"I have to prove to people in this galaxy that the Genii are a force to be reckoned with"

"YOU BASTARD" he smiled at her as the bomb went through and the gate shut down.

CHAPTER 5 

"Sir I am receiving a feint radio signal with Dr McKay's IDC" Caldwell looked at his communications officer.

"From Atlantis"?

"No sir, from a planet we have passed" Caldwell looked concerned.

"Drop out of hyperspace and take us to the planet"

"When we will know if this worked Rodney" Sheppard asked as they walked around the Varian's communication room.

"Dr McKay this is Colonel Caldwell are you in need of assistance" Sheppard grabbed Rodney's shoulders in thanks and picked up the mic.

"This is Sheppard and we are most defiantly in need of assistance"

"We are in orbit, stand by for you all to be beamed"

Within minutes Tribus watched as the teams disappeared in a beam of light.

"Colonel Sheppard where is Dr Weir" he noticed the looks on their faces and began to worry.

"We need to talk sir"

It took John only a couple of minutes to fill Caldwell in on the situation and he was just as furious as John that she had been taken prisoner.

"Set course for the Genii home world" Caldwell said but John interrupted him

"No, I think that they will we go to Atlantis" he looked around at their faces

"Elizabeth wouldn't let them into Atlantis" Rodney said

"Kolya can be quiet persuasive, If she's not there then we can go to the Genii but knowing Kolya the way I do, this is why he wanted her"

"Okay, set course for Atlantis"

Elizabeth dialled Atlantis and typed in her IDC code. She got a signal back saying the shield was down. Kolya grabbed her round the arm and walked her through whilst holding a gun to her head.

"It's Dr Weir's IDC" said Pete.

"It's about time," Bates said. Dr Beckett was in the control room talking to Zelenka when the gate opened. Elizabeth walked through and Carson was horrified to see the state of her.

"Jesus Elizabeth what happened to you" Beckett shouted out and ran down the stairs, the Kolya appear from behind her and he stopped in his tracks. The gate room was full of Genii soldiers in seconds.

"Put down your weapons or she dies," said Kolya pushing the gun into her temple. Beckett was standing only 10 feet away from her and noticed that she wasn't looking at anyone and that had him worried.

The small amount of armed men in the control room lowered their weapons and was then surrounded by the Genii. Kolya ordered Zelenka to lock down the control room. He looked at Bates and he nodded to him, so he typed in the code and told Kolya it was done.

Kolya roughly pushed Elizabeth to his 2IC and made his way up to her office and sat in her chair. His 2IC, Taylus, came into the room with Weir.

"We can use the locators to track down the personnel then we will put them all in cells, we should have the city within the hour" He left the room, leaving Elizabeth standing shivering with fever.

"Things will go so much more quickly without Colonel Sheppard interfering this time"

Almost an hour later Taylus came back into Weirs office and reported that all personnel had been confined.

"Well done Taylus, now take Dr Weir and the rest of the control staff to the cells too"

They were all lead to the cell that once had held a Wraith. When Taylus left the room Beckett went straight to Elizabeth's side. He moved his hand to look at her shoulder and she flinched away.

"Good god woman what have they done to you" he said as he looked at Bates and Zelenka.

"Elizabeth it's Carson, I am going to look at your wounds okay, now just relax"

"Dr Weir where is Colonel Sheppard and the rest of the teams, we have tried to dial the Varian's home world but the Stargate would not engage" She winced as Carson checked her shoulder.

"We were having drinks in the gardens, gunfire rang out. Kolya and his men appeared and told us they just wanted me, I told him I would go with him if he let my people go free, he lied. They were all killed, murdered by his firing squads, then he set off a nuke on the planet killing everyone else. He took me to their planet where he repeatedly me asked me to dial Atlantis, I told him no every time and he tortured me it was only when he sent a nuke through to the Kobans world that I relented, he said that he would send a nuke to every planet that we had been to". The men had listened to her story patiently. She had taken a long time to tell it as her broken ribs laboured her breathing.

"Good god, what animals" Beckett said

"I have let you all down, I am so sorry" she still hadn't looked at anyone in the eye.

"Elizabeth you have been through an extremely traumatic experience please try to rest"

Kolya had ordered his men to search for the C4 and weapons around the city.

"Sir we are having trouble accessing systems, we need the command codes" Taylus said as Kolya looked at Elizabeth's personal things.

"Then let's go and get Dr Weir" he said leading his men to the cells.

Carson was not only worried about her physical state but also her mental state. She was in serious need of medical attention, he knew from his assessment that she had a broken wrist, broken cheekbone, broken ribs, bullet wound which was starting to get infected, various cuts and bruises and he hoped to god that there was nothing sexually wrong with her. He was also worried that she might have internal injuries. Every time he moved near her she kept flinching.

They heard footsteps and Beckett saw her visible shake as Kolya entered the cell.

"Dr Weir, it looks like we need your help again"

"She's not going anywhere she is in shock and has multiple injuries, she need to have medical attention" Kolya pulled out his gun and pointed it at Dr Beckett's head. That got her attention and she stood up swaying with exhaustion.

"What do you want?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Your command codes or he will die" she squeezed Carson's shoulder and walked forward.

"Fine, this time you will leave my people alone or I will not help you"

"Okay" Kolya pulled her roughly out of the cell. Beckett tried to stop them but was hit across the face with Taylus's gun.

"Get back hero"

"Carson" Elizabeth yelled but she was dragged off before she could tell if he was all right or not.

Weir was taken to the control room where she typed in her codes.

"You don't look so good Dr Weir, well health wise anyway," he said and Elizabeth could see him once again looking her up and down. Kolya turned and talked to his men, Elizabeth is so exhausted that she falls forward slightly and holds onto the control desk.

"Take her to my office and sit her down for a moment" She was roughly moved into her own office. When she sat down she realised that her fever was getting worse and she knew that her shoulder was infected by the amount of pain it was giving her. She just couldn't stop herself shivering with cold.

There was a loud beep from the long-range sensors.

"What is that?" Kolya shouts. Elizabeth leant forward to look at the screen and said with fear in her voice.

"That's a Wraith hive ship, you need to let my control officers back in her so that we can cloak the city or else they will attack"

Kolya looked around the city and at all the supplies stocked up ready to go back to their world.

"You know, I do believe that this city is just to much of a liability now so how about we take your ZPM and leave you to fight it out"

"You can't do that we will be defenceless"

"That's not my problem," he laughs at her and his men dial the Genii home world.

CHAPTER 6 

"Sir sensors are picking up one Wraith ship approaching the city" Caldwell looked at Sheppard with worry.

"Is the city cloaked" Sheppard asks.

"No sir"

"Something is wrong, Kolya must be there, or else they would have cloaked already," Sheppard said pacing the command deck.

"Sir, get us as close as you can to the city and beam us down" Caldwell nodded.

"Sir darts are leaving the hive ship and are heading for Atlantis"

"All flight crews head to your ships and attack the Wraith darts, sergeant fire at will at the hive ship, lets give them something else to fire at"

"Take the C4 first then the weapons, Taylus head to the power room and get the ZPM"

Elizabeth noticed another ship appear on the sensor display and realised that it was the Deadalous. Kolya was too busy to notice, then she noticed the numerous signals, which does get his attention.

"What is that?" he asked pointing to the Deadalous.

"That is another hive ship and those little dots are Wraith darts heading to the city, my people are in great danger as are yours, release them and we can fight together"

"The diplomat to the end, you forget Dr Weir that we will be long gone before they begin to suck the remaining life out of your lovely body" he paused and looked her up and down once more "You know I think that I will take you with us, just so that I can take my pleasure with you" Elizabeth felt sick at what he was suggesting. Explosions started to rack the city as the darts begin to fire. Wraiths were beginning to get beamed into the city.

With the explosions going off, Kolya's attention was focused on getting his men through the gate and didn't notice when Elizabeth typed in her command codes and quickly changes them. She shuts down the gate and smiles triumphantly.

"It looks like the ZPM has been removed I can track its signal and it is moving away from the power room and heading towards the gate room, you need to beam us to that location so I can get it back and restore the shield"

"Good luck Colonel, scans show that there are numerous Wraith in the city, watch you back"

Within seconds they materialized in front of Taylus and his team who were quickly overpowered and killed.

"McKay take Lorne and his team to the power room, get that shield up, James take your team and free our people, Ronan, Teyla and myself will head to the control room, once you've restored the power Rodney help out James's team and free more people"

McKay entered the power room and puts the ZPM back in its rightful place, and then with a quick tap on the keyboard the shield is in place.

"Now all we have to worry about is the Wraith in the city, lets go get our people back"

They had beamed in quiet a way from the control room and John was heading there as fast as he could but they were encountering numerous Wraith on the way.

"Beckett are you okay," Rodney asks as he opened the cell door.

"Rodney your alive, Elizabeth told us that you'd all been killed" Rodney looked pleased

"Elizabeth, you've seen her is she here is she okay"

"She's here and she is in a very bad way, Kolya took her to the control room, what's with all the explosions"

"That would be the Wraith hive ship and darts that are attacking but I have just restored the shield. Unfortunately there are lots of Wraith in the city and we will have to be careful"

Rodney called Sheppard on the radio.

"Sheppard I have found Bates and Beckett, he said that Elizabeth is in the control room with Kolya and John, he said that she is in a really bad way" John clenched his teeth in anger.

"We are almost there, tell Bates to assist with Lorne's team over"

"What have you done?" Kolya shouted out when he saw the gate shut down and the smug look on Elizabeth's face.

"You are stranded here now too, so maybe I will get to see the Wraith suck the life out of you instead you son of a bitch"

"You bitch" he shouted and backhands her hard across the face. The force of it threw her backwards onto the floor. Kolya stormed forward and lifts her up in the air, then with great ease, threw her through the glass wall of her office, it shatters as she fly's through it.

"Give me that code"

Sheppard, Ronan and Teyla arrive just in time to see Kolya throw Elizabeth through her office window.

"KOLYA" he shouts out and fires at his armed men around the room, Teyla begins to fight hand to hand as does Ronan.

As they fight three Wraith appear in the control room and all are distracted. Kolya picks up his gun and aims at John's head. Elizabeth doesn't know whom it is he is aiming at but decided to stop him.

Kolya screams in pain and looks down at the huge piece of glass sticking out of his calf.

"Your times up now" he drops the gun and straddles Elizabeth. The extra weigh on her already broken ribs is unbearable. Kolya's huge hands wrap around her throat. She struggles as he begins to squeeze as hard as he can. John looks up to her office to see Kolya chocking her.

"Ronan cover me" he shouts and runs up to her office, just as he enters Elizabeth gives one last gasp then her arms fall limply to the floor.

"ELIZABETH" he shouts and lunges at Kolya, knocking him off Elizabeth's still form. The two men begin to wrestle around on the floor; John gets in four good hard punches to his face, Kolya elbows John in the throat, winding him momentarily. Then Kolya wraps his arm around John's neck and begins to strangle him. John is struggling.

"You know I enjoyed her very much, the sound of her bones breaking beneath my fists, her screams as I burnt her flesh with pokers, and the sweet taste of her body as me and my men ravished her over and over again"

Hearing him speak about his beloved Elizabeth that way made him angry beyond belief. He head butted Kolya then kicked him, once he was released from his grasp he reached down and picked up his gun, he aimed at his head and fired with out a word.

"Beam over the bomb" Caldwell ordered. There was a flash of bright light followed by the hive ship splitting to millions of pieces. The remaining darts were shot down by the F302's.

John rushed to Elizabeth's side and checked for a pulse. He could only imagine what she must have been through; she looked like she's been through hell. He found a very weak pulse, she was alive he was just thankful for that. Rodney Teyla and Ronan appeared in her doorway.

"My god, what did he do to her" Rodney said with tears in his eyes. He had never seen anyone in his team or any other team looks as bad as she did.

"Is she alive John?" Teyla asked with tears covering her cheeks.

"There's so much blood," Rodney said in a quiet voice.

"Barely, we need to get Beckett in here now"

As if on cue Carson came rushing into the room.

"Stand away John" he asked gently as he and his team went to work on her.

"She is not moving much air, her windpipe is crushed we need to bag her now" He expertly placed a tube down her throat and after a couple of seconds they were helping her breath with a bag. Gently they lifted her up onto a gurney and started to take her away. None of John's team missed the patch of blood where she had been lying.

"Colonel Sheppard this is Bates, we need assistance there are just too many Wraith" gunfire could be heard in the back ground over his transmission.

"Bates we are on our way, Rodney change the sensors so that we can detect their life signs, lets go hunting Ronan."

John wanted nothing more than to follow Carson to the infirmary to sit with her but he knew that the Wraith had to taken care of first. He began to lead them to Bates when he heard something that terrified him

"Dr, we've lost her pulse"

CHAPTER 7 

"Okay start compressions, Howard, give me the defribulator" John was frozen to the spot. He watched as Elizabeth's body jumped from the electric currents. Carson calls out clear and again she jumps in the air.

"No rhythm, charge to 300, clear" he shouts and shocks her again.

"Got a rhythm, right lets move quickly people or we are going to loose her, Dr Main this is Beckett prep the surgery room and start getting scrubbed in immediately" Carson shouted the orders out to his team as he left the control room.

When John looked around at his team he realised that he wasn't the only one holding his breath, the entire room was silent.

"Lets move" Ronan led the way to track down the wraith.

"Okay, lets get a good look at those injuries, x-rays please, chest and stomach" whilst the x-rays were being developed, Beckett was preparing for surgery. When he was ready he came into the Operating room. Elizabeth was sedated and dressed in surgical gowns.

"The x-rays are ready Doctor"

"Okay hang them up please" the nurse placed them on the light wall and he walked over to look at them.

"Jesus" he said, they gathered around the x-rays and they all realised that she had extensive injuries and broken bones.

"Right, lets get to work" he started to run the clock.

"Seven down and four to go" Ronan said as he lead the team forward. Two wraith were in front of them trying to hide but Ronan and Teyla could sense them. They came at the wraith from different angels and killed them quickly. Lorne's team killed the last two.

"Colonel Sheppard this is Caldwell what is your situation"

"The wraith have been taken care of, the Genii have all been neutralised"

"The hive ship is toast as are the remaining darts, we will be landing in a couple of minutes please meet me at the landing site"

John just wanted to get to Elizabeth but he knew that he had to report to Caldwell. He sent his team to help in other areas whilst he went to the landing site. He watched the hugely impressive ship land very gracefully; it didn't take long for Caldwell to appear. He was running off his ship towards him.

"How is she?" he asked genuinely concerned.

"Not good, Kolya really gave it to her, she is in surgery now, I am on my way there now sir" Caldwell knew that he would not get him to do anything now; he knew where he wanted to be.

"Okay John, keep me informed please, I will be in Dr Weirs office"

John headed towards the infirmary, it had been many hours since he had last seen her, and the closer he got to the room the more worried he became. He walked inside and found Beckett sitting in a chair looking into space.

"Carson" he asked gently, hoping to god that she hadn't died.

"Colonel, are all the Wraith gone"

"Yes, how is she" he noticed the look on his face sadden. Beckett led him to a special ICU room, the curtains were pulled around one of the beds and he moved forward slowly and pulled them back. John was shocked to see Elizabeth's frail body lying on the bed looking so small. She had so many machines and tubes and wires around her body that he just couldn't count them.

"Elizabeth" he said gently and took her bruised hand.

"She's in a coma, we had to induce it so that her body could heal" John didn't take his eyes from her.

"How bad was it" Beckett sighed and moved around the bed so that he could look at John's face.

"Bad, her broken ribs we so shattered that they had ripped into her left lung, we had to sort that out first of all, the bullet wound had got infected, she is on strong antibiotics to deal with that, we couldn't find the bullet, it looks like it was removed with a knife, that had to be stitched up, such extensive tissue damage there. Then we had to do skin grafts on her stomach and chest as she had severe burns there, her cheekbone is broken, but that will have to heal itself, her left wrist is broken as are two of her fingers, she has very many cuts and bruises as you can see, some nasty ones on her head that required many stitches plus that one above her eyebrow that will give her a nasty scar, thankfully she had no internal bleeding, but she had suffered bad concussion which has caused her brain to swell slightly due to bruising" Beckett stopped and saw the tears in John's eyes.

"Um, did you check," he stopped unsure how to say it.

"What is it John"

"Kolya told me that he and his men had repeatedly raped her" Beckett looked shocked

"I will do an exam, just give me a few minutes" John reluctantly let go of her hand whilst Carson and a couple of nurses pulled back the curtains for privacy and examined her. John waited patiently. Beckett appeared a few minutes later.

"Well thank god, there is no sign of rape or any sexual abuse, I think Kolya was just baiting you"

"Oh thank god"

John sat by her side all night. His team had come by to check on her and all were disgusted by what the Genii had done to her. In the morning Beckett came in to find John asleep in the chair by her bed. Caldwell came in a few minutes after Carson and saw John sitting there.

"Has he been here all night" Carson nodded, Caldwell had been informed of her condition last night by John.

"John" Caldwell said. John woke up and nodded at Caldwell.

"The city is back to normal, well a normal as it can be without her at the helm" John appreciated his words.

"I've been thinking sir, we should mount a mission to recover out supplies"

"What have you got in mind"?

"We take the Deadalous to the Genii home world, beam down, tag our supplies and grab a couple of nukes whilst we are there, and maybe set one off on the way out" Caldwell thought it over and then looked at Elizabeth. It wasn't that long ago that he had been infected by a gouald, once removed Elizabeth had fought for him to stay in his position, he owed her

"Do it"

"Thank you sir" Caldwell left and Beckett came over to him.

"Are you sure that she wont wake up for 3 days"

"At least" John nodded and left giving her a gentle kiss on her head.

He gathered all the team members and told them of his plan.

"So that's what I am going to do, now I wont order any of you to join me, but I am asking for volunteers" all the armed men stepped forward in response and John's heart swelled with pride.

"Thank you, this ones for Elizabeth" he said as he dismissed them. McKay came up to him.

"I'm coming too"

"No, this ones too dangerous, they might be prepared for us and I cant have the most brilliant man in Atlantis hurt" McKay cut him off.

"Do you know how to set off one of their nukes" John looked at him; he had kept that part of his plan a secret.

"Good point" he nodded. John knew that Rodney had a soft spot for Elizabeth and was eager to get some pay back on her behalf, they all set off to the Deadalous.

"Okay, lets do this," said Caldwell as the ship lifted off from the ground.

CHAPTER 8 

When they reached the Genii home world, none of them had faltered in their plan. This race of evil people had to be stopped before millions others were killed. They beamed down to the underground part of the planet in perfect military style. They were swift and clean in their mission, locating and tagging their lost equipment and weapons with ease. All the equipment was beamed up to the ship. Then they got to the nukes and the resistance started. The Genii put a good fight but the Atlantis team were motivated to succeed for Elizabeth. John tagged two nukes and guarded Rodney whilst he initiated the timer.

"Okay guys, we have 3 minutes" Sheppard ordered that every team member beam out. Rodney, Ronan, Teyla and Sheppard gathered on the bridge and watched as a flash of light erupted on the surface of the Genii home world, they watched in silence as the circle of fire spread out across the continent. None of them said a word as Colonel Caldwell plotted a course back to Atlantis.

Once they arrived John and his team went straight to the infirmary where John took his seat once again by Elizabeth's side. Carson came over to them.

"Her condition is improving, I'm hoping that she will be awake tomorrow." John smiled and let out a huge breath that he had been holding.

The night passed slowly for John; he sat beside her all night until he eventually fell asleep beside her.

Elizabeth heard the beeping of the machines around her first, then felt the softness of the sheets and pillow and realised that she was in the infirmary. Then she felt the softness of a hand around hers. Curious of who it was she opened her good eye only as her other eye was swollen shut, and looked down at a head of black hair. Tears welled up in her eyes as she realised that John was alive.

"John" she said in a whisper. He lifted his head up and she smiled at how his hair was sticking up on one side and flat on the other.

"Your alive, I thought that you had all been killed" John leaned closer to her and kissed her hand.

"The Varian's saved us, they fought back and killed the Genii, I'm sorry it took so long for us to get to you" Elizabeth just looked at him, staring into those big eyes.

"I heard the gunshots and" tears fell freely from her eyes and Carson decided to give them a minute, he pulled the curtain around them.

"When I thought you had been killed, my heart broke"

"And when I saw you taken from me, my heart broke, I should have told you before how I felt"

"I know how you feel," she said touching his face.

"Still I would like to say it out loud, I Love you Elizabeth" she smiled again

"And I love you John"

"Where is Kolya?" she said

"Dead" she had a relived look on her face.

"I feel ashamed, I gave up Atlantis" she put her head down.

"Elizabeth, I cant imagine what you have been through, but the injuries you sustained tell how hard you fought, Carson told us that the only reason you gave up Atlantis was because he was going to nuke every planet we had been too, you shouldn't be ashamed of saving countless lives, I'm so proud of you"

"The things he did to me" John reached up gently and hugged her.

Carson had informed the rest of the team when she had woken and they came to the infirmary immediately, he held them back for a few moments when he had heard her last sentence.

Rodney waited for a few minutes then couldn't take it anymore and pulled back the curtain, he and John both noticed how badly she flinched.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you jump, I just wanted to see you" She smiled up at them all.

"I'm so glad that you are all alive" Carson came forward and checked on her stats

"How bad am I?" she asked him and he explained her injuries, even Ronan looked shocked at the amount of injuries she had sustained.

John had decided not to tell her about the Genii home world until she was out of the infirmary.

Two weeks had passed and Elizabeth was on her favourite balcony with her constant companion.

"Kate says my therapy sessions are going well, I'm not having any nightmares any more"

"That's great," he said as he stroked her back gently.

"Elizabeth there is something we need to talk about and I have kept this from you as long as I could but I think that it is time you knew, after what happened to you and to the planet that they nuked, we decided on a plan to get our stuff back from the Genii home world"

"Did you"

"We did, and managed to get a couple of nukes too"

"That's great, did you have much resistance, I should think that they will be after us again now"

"Well I don't think that we will have to worry about them for a long time, we"

"You what"

"We set of a nuke as we left"

"You what" shouted Elizabeth

"John how could you do that"

"They were threatening to nuke every planet that we had ever visited, we checked the planet that they sent to the nuke to, there is nothing left but dust, we couldn't let them do that just for fun" Elizabeth looked unsure.

"I don't know how I feel about this John"

"The Genii were a real threat to the people of this galaxy"

"But does that justify us destroying their race"

"I think this time it does" Elizabeth walked away from him.

"I need a bit of time on my own to think" he looked hurt but did as she asked and left her to her thoughts.

Teyla appeared half an hour later.

"I understand that John has told you"

"Teyla, I don't know what to think about this"

"The Genii were a race of people that only believed in one thing, the advancement of their way of life, they were not interested in other races, other cultures, to them everything that wasn't Genii was not good enough. They sent that nuke through to that planet without a second thought, we had been on that planet, Carson had helped to deliver a baby that was breech, and they named the boy after him. Think of how many cultures and planets we have visited, all of them would have been destroyed, I can't get the image of that baby boy burning to death out of my mind," she said as tears rolled down her face.

"We tried peace with them, we tried to ignore them, and it was they that attacked us"

Elizabeth thought about what Teyla said and nodded to her. Teyla left Elizabeth to her thoughts.

Later that evening Elizabeth went to find John; he was sitting out on one of the docks with his feet dangling in the water. She walked up to him and sat down beside him.

"I understand why you did what you did, I'm sorry that I made you feel bad, I just needed to get my head around it"

John took her hand and took a deep breath.

"When I saw Kolya drag you away, and take you through that gate unconscious, I lost all hope, they DHD blew up and there seemed to be no way to get to you, thinking about what was happening to you almost killed me, then when I got back to Atlantis and saw him throw you through that window and strangle you I wanted to kill him with my bare hands, I would have died too if you would have been killed, then you survived and all I could think of was telling you how I felt" he turned to her and took her other cast covered hand.

"I never want to spend another day without you, Elizabeth Weir, will you marry me" Elizabeth gasped, her heart sped up to three times the speed and she felt the smile start to spread across her face.

"Yes John Sheppard, I would love to marry you"

They hugged and John pulled out a ring that he had stashed in his pocket.

"Then I guess I don't need to hold on to this anymore" he placed the ring on her finger and kissed her passionate. They sat together and watched the sunset on their beautiful city.

THE END


End file.
